Atrophy
by For-the-Love-of-Band
Summary: Orphaner Dualscar runs across his descendant in the dream bubbles, only to find him in a sorry state. Though upset adolescents are hardly his forte, he'll try to do something, at least. Tumblr drawing prize for erhidan.


Title: Atrophy

Pairing: Orphaner Dualscar x Eridan Ampora

Category: Feels. Simple as that.

This time the dream bubble was full of murky, roiling clouds of deep brown with a dull dark blue background visible beyond. The clouds moved tangibly around Dualscar, and as he progressed they kicked up further, like silt on a riverbed would. In fact, he could almost feel the tug of a current, the weight of water above his head. But it wasn't true submersion; this was a dream bubble, and it was the dreamer he searched for, so Dualscar followed the pervasive sound of poorly-muffled sobs and sniffles.

A frown twisted his rough features as he swatted through another rolling bank of haze. They were beginning to grow annoying. Had they been consciously put there, or had they simply arisen like the scenery from their past encounters? He wasn't sure yet, but he had a suspicion of the former that was growing steadily. Dualscar was nearly blinded by now from all his kicking around in the bubble, but with a final blind stumble, he broke into the eye of the storm.

Indeed, it was a perfect circle cutting through the swirling mire, at the center of which sat a young troll, hunched over his knees and shuddering softly in the throes of his tears. Dualscar regarded him carefully, sighing through his nose. Crying kids had never been his specialty in any case. It seemed a cruel trick that was what he had to deal with now. "Eridan?" He prompted softly.

The smaller violetblood fell silent for a momet, before shaking his head and choking out, "Go away."

Dualscar crossed his strong arms.

"I mean it! I don't want you… Seein' me like this." Eridan sobbed, ringed fingers twisting in his hair.

"Too late." Dualscar said. "It took me long enough to find ya, I'm not just leavin'."

Eridan looked up some, his thick glasses fogged from the hot tears streaming down his face. "Y-You were… Lookin' for me?" His tone clearly said he didn't believe his ancestor in the least, but Dualscar nodded in response, prompting Eridan to ask, "Why?"

The pirate was silent. Perhaps it was some innate need to simply experience exposure to his own descendant, but that didn't seem quite right to him. "That's not important now." He said, and quickly found it was wrong to.

"Of course! I bet you just… Wandered in here on accident, an' feel obligated to stay!" Eridan accused.

"Now that ain't-"

"Shut up! Just shut up!"

Dualscar scowled, stepping closer and picking the smaller Aquarius up by the fastenings of his cape and lifting him easily to his feet. Eridan looked down, refusing to meet his eyes. He didn't try to squirm away either, though. Dualscar kept his hands where they were just in case. "What," He said with decidedly less patience, "Has you sobbin' like some pathetic wriggler?"

Eridan was silent for a long moment, finally looking up and sniffling a last time before saying, "I came across Fef in here."

Dualscar blinked. It took him a few moments to remember from the last time he'd talked with his descendent who the fucshiablood was. "And?" He prompted.

"She got… Really upset…" Eridan looked off to the side again. "She was yellin' and… And…"

He seemed on the verge of regressing back into tears, so Dualscar asked, "Didn't you kill her?"

Another bad choice in questioning. "Yes!" Eridan replied. "I killed her, an'… She was fuckin' livid, she told me even though she forgave me an' understood… She… She said she didn't want me around her or any-a our friends because she couldn't trust me, and none of 'em wanted to see me anyway!" Dualscar watched him begin to whimper again as he shook his head and continued through tears: "Which is fuckin' perfect, because the last thing I needed was confirmation that I really am all alone in here, even more so than when I was alive!"

Dualscar gave Eridan a nice healthy shake, making him cry out as he was jostled and his glasses thrown askew. "Alone, huh?"

Eridan's mouth went taut and he made a noncommittal sound from behind pursed lips.

"Well now I feel fuckin' special." Dualscar released his descendent. "No wonder yer so 'alone', when yer so picky about company."

"I'm not picky!" Eridan claimed. "I just got a low tolerance level when it comes to dumbasses!" His eyes widened when he'd heard what he said, and he immediately started shaking his head. "No, no, that's not what I-"

"I've heard enough." Dualscar snapped. "You know, if this is how you treat everyone who comes through here, I can understand why they all leave ya."

Eridan looked down guiltily, sniffling once more and rubbing his face with his sleeves. He mumbled something incohesive, causing Dualscar to narrow his eyes. "What was that?" He wasn't even sure he wanted to hear at this point.

"I said, don't you know what it's like?" Eridan repeated, louder, as he looked back up to Dualscar. His eyes were bright with fresh, translucent violet tears. "To put all your energy into one person, in hopes maybe they'll like you as much as you like them?! An' then, an' then they just…"

"Brush ya off like scum." Dualscar finished somberly. "Yeah, I do."

"Weren't you…" Eridan gestured frustratedly, grasping for a word. "Distraught like I am?!"

Dualscar sighed. Even if the answer was yes, he wouldn't be telling Eridan that. "The longer you spend cryin' over it, the harder it'll be to get back on yer feet." He said quietly.

"I don't see any reason to." Eridan responded.

"Because there's more than just her out there." He said. "Surely there's someone who at least finds ya tolerable."

"Not in here, there isn't." Eridan grumbled.

"That's where yer wrong." Dualscar said. When Eridan looked skeptical he continued, "You been sobbin' and complainin' this whole time to me. Have I left?"

This gave the younger Aquarius pause. "So… You think I'm… Tolerable?" He looked up at his Ancestor, fins perking up slightly.

Dualscar shrugged. "Fairly. Don't mean you can spend your whole time like this, though. At least make an effort to get over this."

Eridan nodded, looking as if he'd begun to improve already. Dualscar was sure a bit more time and he would soon be sufficiently cheered up. And as he saw the smallest grin on Eridan's face, he couldn't help but copy it.


End file.
